My Granddaughter, the Protester

 

by Pa Rock

Extremely Proud Grandpa

Traces of the 1960's still linger.

This past Thursday I received an email from my youngest son, Tim, who lives with his family in the Kansas suburbs of Kansas City, telling me that he and Erin's oldest child, Olive, age 14, had been involved in a student walkout at her high school the previous day.  Olive and over four hundred of her fellow students left the school during the final hour of classes and marched down the town's main drag, Johnson Drive, protesting the despicable Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids that are taking place across the United States.

The numerous videos of the event that have been posted on-line show the mass of young people with their homemade signs and exuberant spirits taking up a lane of the town's main thorofare and the adjacent sidewalks as they marched several blocks.  Local police showed up to help manage the demonstration and the traffic.  The Kansas City Star described the event thusly:

"Hundreds of Shawnee Mission North High School students participated in a student-led walkout on Wednesday afternoon to protest US Immigration Customs Enforcement.  Students walked along Johnson drive for several blocks, holding handmade signs that bore pro-immigration messages and opposition to the federal agency.

"Police officers blocked traffic and cars honked in support of the students as they walked down the busy street.  Several students walked holding Guatemalan, Cuban, and American flags."

There were also student walkouts at several other schools in that area last week.

Some of the clever signs from the Shawnee Mission North demonstration that I saw posted on the Internet included:  "Morons Are Governing America," "No Decent Human has a Heart Made of ICE," "Stop Pretending Your Racism is Patriotism."   

I spoke with Olive on Friday to tell her how very proud I was of her stance in support immigrants and oppressed peoples.  She told me that most of her school had participated, but that a few students chose to remain at the school, as is their right.  She said she saw one anti-protestor, an angry old man who was yelling at the kids, but overall it seemed to have been a very positive experience.

Olive's decrepit old grandfather, himself a former high school principal, knows that not all education happens in the classroom, and in Shawnee Mission this past Wednesday a big dose of it occurred out in the streets.  Several hundred young people now have a deeper understanding of our current political realities, and they have personally experienced the power of the First Amendment to the US Constitution.  Good work, Shawnee Mission!  Thank you for standing up for true American values!

Salute!